2. Description of the Related Art
Prior art cutlery dispensers have many disadvantages. Sanitation is an issue, and those with open bins or a receiving chamber for dispensed cutlery (into which a user must insert a hand to retrieve cutlery) present a high risk for cutlery contamination from the environment and prior users. Also, disease can be spread by activation levers, plungers, and other mechanical devices that a user must contact to dispense a utensil. Furthermore, single-serve cutlery dispensers in common use today often only hold about one hundred utensils, which is inadequate in high-traffic areas. In addition, other prior art cutlery dispensers are not tamper-resistant, may be difficult to load with replacement cutlery, are often time-consuming to load with replacement cutlery, and/or compromise the sanitary condition of cutlery during loading. In contrast to the flawed prior art, the present invention is a gravity-feed, single-serve dispenser that has a vertically-extending cutlery storage channel configured for angled stacking of stored utensils. Utensils are loaded longitudinally into refillable modules that can be stacked laterally in side-by-side array, wherein utensils in adjacent modules are substantially parallel to one another to permit one end of a utensil (typically its handle end) to extend outwardly toward a user for easy withdrawal from a dispensing opening. A valley below the present invention storage channel preferably engages the tip of the utility end of a stored utensil released by a dispensing event from the stacked array of utensils, wherein that utensil now becomes the next ready-to-be-dispensed utensil. The release and valley engagement causes the handle end of the utensil to undergo a small rotation and drop into view through a dispensing opening. Thus, a utensil ready for dispensing is no longer angled in orientation, and instead has a substantially horizontally-extending and locked dispensing position that blocks access to, and/or removal of, any of the stacked utensils remaining in the storage channel until another dispensing event occurs. This is critical in preventing contamination of the remaining cutlery pieces. Only withdrawal of the utensil currently in the locked dispensing position (by a user grasping its exposed handle and pulling it outward and away from the dispensing opening) will cause a next utensil in stacked array to concurrently drop down into the locked dispensing position, which continues to block access to, and/or removal of, the non-dispensed stacked utensils remaining in the storage channel until they each sequentially reach the locked dispensing position. Since the next utensil in the present invention channel is instantly dropped down via gravity (and does so without any moving dispenser components), and gravity further rotates the handle of this next utensil to lock it into the dispensing position, reinsertion of a dispensed utensil into the channel is prevented (as well as insertion of anything else), thus preserving the sanitary condition of the storage channel and all utensils exiting it for dispensing. No cutlery dispensing system is known that has all of the features and advantages of the present invention, which include but are not limited to, a synergistic relation between modules and base unit that allows for a cutlery dispensing capacity of at least 3-4 times that of prior art dispensers with the same or similar footprint, no use of dispensing slots or receiving bins that are likely to cause utensil contamination, a locked dispensing position for cutlery that blocks reinsertion of dispensed cutlery into areas where non-dispensed utensils are stored, fast and sanitary module refill through use of bundled stacks of cutlery, and single-serve cutlery dispensing during which a user only touches a utensil's handle instead of any exterior portion of the dispenser during a dispensing event.
There are prior art cutlery dispensers known with no moving parts, wherein the act of dispensing one utensil causes gravity to move the next higher stored utensil downwardly into a dispensing position, and many of these dispensers also have a stated goal of sanitary utensil dispensing. However, each has structure different from that in the present invention and disadvantages that are overcome by the new locking valley and other structure disclosed for the present invention's modules and base units. Several gravity-feed dispensers are mentioned below as examples for comparison/contrast to present invention structure. The dispenser disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,921,408 to Groenewold (1999) has multiple vertically-extending storage channels each with a front slot through which the handles of all utensils stored therein extend prior to dispensing activity. However, the Groenewold invention's front slot is not tamper-resistant and places non-dispensed utensils at risk for contamination. In addition, dispensing occurs by lifting utensils upwardly by their handles and withdrawing them sequentially through a widened portion of the slot at the top of the channel. Should a user remove a utensil, decide not to use it, and then unthinkingly replace the non-used utensil in the channel through the top widened portion of the slot, the utensil immediately under it in stacked array, as well as the inside surfaces of the channel through which all subsequently dispensed utensils must be moved, are likely to experience contamination. Furthermore, a user removing or attempting to grasp the topmost handle in the stacked array is likely to at least touch the handle of the next lower utensil, potentially passing germs and other substances to the next user. The invention in U.S. Pat. No. 2,871,079 to Barrett (1959) also contemplates the dispensing of sanitary utensils and has a lip that provides user access only to the bottommost utensil, which is removed by grasping the edges of its handle and drawing it away from an upright storage shell. However, the Barrett invention only dispenses flat wooden utensils in a horizontally-extending stack, and makes no provisions (as in the present invention) to rotate the handle of the bottommost fork or spoon with a conventional contour shape until it drops into view through the dispensing opening, thus becoming separated from the stacked array for prompt and easy single-serve dispensing. Also, in the present invention, reinsertion of the withdrawn utensil is blocked, providing tamper-resistance, as concurrently with the removal of one utensil, the next utensil in the storage channel instantly takes its place in the locked dispensing position. In contrast, particularly in a situation when relatively few flat utensils remain in the upright Barrett shell, since nothing locks the bottommost utensil in stacked array into its dispensing position, it is conceivable for a user to deliberately reinsert a used utensil into the shell and contaminate the shell's interior in a way that would also expose every subsequent utensil dispensed to contamination as it is dispensed. Also, neither the Groenewold invention, nor the Barrett invention, appears to have provisions for rapid loading of utensils similar to the side slot the present invention's most preferred modules that allow pre-bundled stacks of utensils to be rapidly placed within its storage channel.
Other prior art cutlery dispensers with disadvantages similar to those noted above for the Groenewold and Barrett inventions include the invention in U.S. Pat. No. 2,110,189 to Zeidler, Sr. (1938) which has removable modules each with a front slot and dispensing that requires lifting and rotating the handle of the topmost utensil approximately 90-degrees so that it can be withdrawn through the narrow slot (in contrast, present invention dispensing is faster since a user simply grasps a utensil by its handle and pulls it away from a module, storage of non-dispensed utensils is at an angle that leads to locked dispensing positioning, and in addition the present invention has no exposed front dispensing slot that would otherwise provide an enhanced risk of contamination for non-dispensed utensils and/or an opportunity for tampering). Furthermore, a user attempting to grasp the topmost handle in the stacked array is likely to at least touch the handle of the next lower utensil, potentially passing germs and other substances to the next user. Another prior art cutlery dispenser with disadvantages similar to those noted for the Groenewold and Barrett inventions is U.S. Pat. No. 5,190,168 to French (1993) which discloses a dispenser having a dispensing channel with a front slot, wherein items loaded into a dispensing channel are made available for single-serve dispensing through a widened front opening in communication with the bottom end of the slot. The ready-to-be-dispensed item at the bottom of the French dispensing channel is not locked into its dispensing position to provide tamper-resistance (in contrast, the present invention has no front cutlery dispensing slot to risk contamination of non-dispensed utensils, and furthermore its locked dispensing position of the next-to-be-dispensed utensil does not allow it to move unless pulled toward a user, which immediately drops another utensil into the locked dispensing position and blocks contamination of its storage channel by reinsertion of previously-dispensed utensils).
In addition, several other prior art dispensers can be distinguished from present invention structure, including U.S. Pat. No. 5,295,592 to Thorne (1994) which discloses a gravity-feed dispenser for a column of horizontally-extending stacked articles of rectangular shape that move downwardly within a storage zone toward a dispensing opening. A resilient abutment at the bottom end of the storage zone engages a rear portion of the bottommost stacked article. An inclined support below the stacked array holds in end-to-end relation at least two articles previously released from the storage zone, with one edge of the topmost article on the inclined support remaining in contact with the bottom surface of the bottommost article in the stacked array, thus helping to prevent downward movement of the bottommost stacked article. An end stop connected to the lower end of the inclined support partially extends through the dispensing opening, and allows a portion of the ready-to-be-dispensed article in contact with the end stop to also extend in part through the dispensing opening. As dispensing of the article in contact with the end stop occurs and it is drawn away from the dispenser, gravity moves the topmost article on the inclined support in a downwardly direction toward the dispensing opening. Concurrently and in response to the force of gravity, and also aided by stretching of the resilient abutment, the front portion of the bottommost stacked article (which has no abutment to support it and now has no more support from the topmost article on the inclined support, which has moved downwardly toward the dispensing opening) pivots downwardly until its rotation is stopped by the inclined support wherein it becomes the new ‘topmost’ article on the inclined support. As pivoting occurs, the resilient abutment stretches to accommodate the diagonal dimension between opposing ends of the rotating rectangular article that exceeds the width dimension of the storage zone. When gravity finally draws the bottommost stacked article fully away from the resilient abutment, the next lowest article in the stacked array drops down into contact with the resilient abutment. In contrast to the Thorne invention, the present invention is able to dispense utensils without a rectangular configuration. In addition, it also provides a locked dispensing position for one ready-to-be-dispensed article separated from the stacked array (whereas Thorne has two articles at a time separated from the stacked array thus allowing for unsanitary conditions), the present invention provides an angled orientation for utensils in its storage channel, and its locking valley has a fixed configuration and no resilient component. Furthermore, U.S. Pat. No. 2,325,604 to Gibbs (1943) also discloses a dispenser with a channel having a front slot that requires removal of a utensil by lifting its handle upwardly within the slot and prior to the utensil exiting the top of the channel it encounters a downwardly-biased hinged latch that promptly closes the top end of the storage/dispensing channel after the utensil moves beyond it, preventing the person withdrawing the utensil from placing it (or anything else) into the dispenser (in contrast, the present invention has no front slot involved in cutlery dispensing or any hinged latch associated with its cutlery storage channel); U.S. Pat. No. 1,693,231 to Gruber (1928) discloses a dispenser requiring removal of a utensil by grasping the middle portion of a laterally-extending utensil in a dispensing chute, after which the next utensil moves down into the most forward position in the chute for future dispensing (in contrast, the present invention has no open dispensing chute that could become a source of tampering or contamination for non-dispensed cutlery as a result of people extending their hand/fingers into it to retrieve a utensil); and U.S. Pat. No. 2,141,684 to Diemer (1938) which discloses a dispenser that drops one utensil at a time from a dispensing channel into a receiving chamber underneath the dispensing channel in response to a user engaging an activation knob or handle. Diemer illustrations show the utility end of the utensil landing closest to the receiving chamber's open end so that a user's fingers moving into the receiving chamber to retrieve a dispensed utensil are most likely to first encounter and touch a portion of the utensil's utility end (instead of its handle end), combined with the risk for contamination resulting from a user having to insert a hand or fingers into the receiving chamber to retrieve a utensil, puts both the receiving chamber and dispensed utensils at risk for contamination (in contrast, the present invention has no activation knob or handle, or other moving parts, and without a receiving chamber that requires insertion of a hand to retrieve dispensed utensils, the risk of contamination to dispensed utensils is significantly reduced). Although mention of the above prior art demonstrates that many types of gravity-feed cutlery dispensers are known, it can be quickly understood that there is much room for improvement, as all of the prior art mentioned have disadvantages that present invention structure overcomes, including but not limited to, easier and more efficient utensil loading, more sanitary utensil loading, higher volume of stored utensils for high-traffic areas, easier and faster utensil dispensing, more sanitary dispensing, and enhanced tamper-resistance for non-dispensed utensils.